Ardagh Glass Sectional League Cup

  Dunipace 1 - 1 Cumbernauld  

Following the disappointment of losing out to Rob Roy in the 96th minute on Saturday (in a game Dunipace had performed well in for 80 minutes with only 10 men) Derek Barron made 1 change to his starting lineup for the visit of Cumbernauld

Out dropped Sean McCafferty and in came the returning Michael Cullen for his first appearance of the season.

The opening exchanges of the game were fairly even, with neither side managing to find any real flow to their football. Dunipace though began to impose themselves on the visitors as teh half progressed and for the majority had the upper hand, creating a number of good chances.

First, Ryan McCafferty was slid in expertly by McIllduff, but following his good run Saturday's man of the match fired his shot wide from 12 yards. And it was McCafferty again who popped up inside the box moments later, this time firing into the midriff of the goalkeeper who had done well to spread himself.

Marty Wright was next to try his luck, but his shot flew wide before another great chance was spurned when Oates ball from wide was missed in the box by everyone.

At this stage it seemed a case of of how many the home side would score if they started taking their chances and with the half drawing to a close it was Marty Wright who started things off. McCafferty's excellent corner from the left met at the back post by Wright, who headed back across goal and into the far corner.

As the teams went in for half time, Dunipace must have been reasonably pleased at the chances created, despite not really playing anything like as well as Saturday.

The second period though was a completely different story.

Cumbernauld came out and started sharply, putting constant pressure on the home defence without really creating any chances. An injury to Orr meant a substitution and a change of shape for the home side and following this, they struggled to find any sort of pattern to their play at all.

Hutton in goal saved well from a free kick, before the visiting striker fired over the bar from 18 yards under pressure from Gary MacMillan. And Dunipace were delighted to see what was a great effort come back off the inside of the post from 20 yards soon after.

Despite the one way flow of the game, Cumbernauld were not creating much in the way of goalscoring opportunities, but they were to be handed a perfect chance by what can only be described as an awful decision by the official, awarding a penalty for a 'foul' by Graeme MacMillan. The striker had a good chuckle to himself at the decision (and with the home defence) as his strike partner stepped up to see Hutton pull of a fantastic save high to his right before Oates headed behind for a corner.

Justice done in terms of the penalty, but for what followed Dunipace would be hugely dissappointed as they couldn't defend the corner properly. The ball flighted beyond the back post was headed back across goal where the striker had stolen a march on his defender to tap home for 1 - 1. No poor decision to look at this time, the penalty was gone, only bad defending to account for the equalising goal.

The remainder of the game was scrappy, with neither side managing to create anything in the way of goalscoring opportunity, with one of the few positives of the half for Dunipace the introduction of another of their under 19 side for his senior team debut. Gary Sibbald (already subbed on in this game for Marty Wright) and Gordon Stewart had already gotten some game time at the weekend and Steven Learmonth became the latest member of the 'wee Pace' side to pull on the jersey, showing more than enough in the 5 minutes or so he was involved to suggest we might be seeing more of him as the season progresses.

1 - 1 though the game finished, ending any hopes Dunipace had of progressing in the league cup. A game of two halves it's true and a draw probably the right result on the night for Dunipace who can look forward to a home tie against Kilsyth on Saturday before a week of hard training before the start of their league campaign versus Vale of Leven at home.